No. 9 Penn State

Midway through last season, the Nittany Lions were struggling through a 2-2 start and were headed for a loss to Minnesota at home. Just when the Penn State beat writers started to get their “coaching search” faces on in searching for potential replacements for Penn State head coach James Franklin, everything changed.

Penn State pulled off an overtime win against the Gophers and did not lose the remainder of the regular season, which included a win over eventual Big Ten champion Ohio State. Only a wild 52-49 loss to USC in the Rose Bowl soiled the comeback. The rest of this article is available to subscribers only – to become a subscriber click here.